


the final summer

by miss_eee



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Camp Buggie Break, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, One Shot, angst with a side of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 21:58:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15543024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_eee/pseuds/miss_eee
Summary: In their usual lives, they were all so very different. The football player. The orphaned daughter. The sheriff’s son. The heir to a maple syrup fortune. The heir to a motorcycle club. The juvenile delinquent. The Park Avenue Princess. The theatre nerd. And her - the golden daughter.





	the final summer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theheavycrown](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theheavycrown/gifts).



> To Sarah- for planting this nugget in my brain that wouldn't leave me. 
> 
> and to RB- for never just being my rebellious phase.

The exit always came up faster than she thought, and her car started to shake as she turned it quickly to the right. Past the Whippy Dip and the Pizza Hut where they always stopped - she knew this route like the back of her hand. 

 

As her small blue car rumbled down the dirt road, she felt her heart begin to shake too. The trees cleared out on her right, a large steep hill giving way to an open field. 

 

Past the field, her tires caught on the small access road that lead directly back to the cabins, where she parked her car in front of the one marked with the number two.  _ Cabin 2 - reporting for duty.  _

 

A quick glance around let her know she was the first to arrive, so she dropped her bags by the cabin door and headed for the water. Lake Meade wasn't anything overly special, but it was her most sacred place. Her summer home, her escape from perfection.

 

Here, perfectly pressed cardigans were traded for soft athletic shorts and faded t-shirts. Here, tight ponytails gave way to loose braids. Here, her smile met her eyes and her heart was home. 

 

She sat in the sand, watching the waves come into the shore. Last summer, she'd spent over 8 hours combing this very same sand, looking for a ring that little Ella Carpenter had lost. The ring was a reminder of her mother who had passed away the year before. Ella's older sister, Abigail, had been in her cabin that year, and after searching for hours with no luck, she'd sat on the sand and held the two girls as they cried. 

 

_ She couldn’t believe this was the end.  _

 

The gravel behind her crunched, and she heard the slow rumble. She didn’t need to turn around, she could feel him before she could see him. Or smell him was more like it. That distinct smell of cigarettes and motor oil that seemed to travel with him wherever he went.

 

“Still doesn’t seem real, does it?” He sank into the sand next to her,  his arm wrapped around her in a half hug, half squeeze, and she leaned into his side. Her hair rustled softly as he kissed the top of her head, before she turned completely to meet his lips. The movement was short and simple, only a brief moment before she pulled away, linking her arm under his and laying her head on his shoulder. 

 

“I don’t think it will really feel real until the very end…” 

 

_ She wasn’t sure if even years from now, looking back, all of this would seem real. She’d spent every summer here since she was 10, the last 3 spent as a camp counselor.  Nine summers. Nine summers of sun and friendships and falling in love with the boy with dark brown waves and steel grey eyes who rode a motorcycle and wore jeans and a black leather jacket even though it was 90 degrees out. Nine summers spent playing in the waves, hiking on the trails. Nine summers.  _

 

The first weekend of every March, she waited patiently by the phone. Waiting for that phone call, that her application had been accepted and inviting her to return to Lake Meade for the summer months. And then the slew of text messages would come in. The group text that lay dormant for the majority of the year, suddenly taking over her phone. 

 

It had been like this every year. The core group would be inseparable all through the summer months, until camp was over and they all dispersed back to their various lives. The texts and phone calls would continue for a few weeks, maybe a few cancelled plans to meet up, and then nothing. Dead air until March, when the calls would come in again. Every year, someone new was added to the group text, their small group of four former campers now including a well rounded group of nine not-always-equally-active-participants. 

 

In their usual lives, they were all so very different. The football player. The orphaned daughter. The sheriff’s son. The heir to a maple syrup fortune. The heir to a motorcycle club. The juvenile delinquent. The Park Avenue Princess. The theatre nerd. And her - the golden daughter.  

 

For the summer months, the group banded together - promising to tackle mosquito bites, sunburns, camp crushes and cafeteria food - together. There was something in the hot summer heat and the fresh water waves that had bonded them together, one cohesive family unit.

 

His arm was still wrapped around her, sitting together in the sand watching the waves roll in, when she heard a car door slam behind her. 

 

“Look at you two little love birds, soaking up the quiet time before the campers arrive!!”

 

Her body twisted, pulling away from his and jumping from the sand as she ran the length of the sand to greet the leggy brunette that had stepped down from the old red truck. 

 

“V!” 

 

“You look amazing, Betts! I can’t believe how long your hair is getting!” She ran her fingers instinctively through the blonde waves - every summer it took her a few days to get used to having it down and not tied back in her ponytail. 

 

Following behind her was a tall red head, flip flops sticking out from under his long jeans and a guitar on his back. Archie Andrews was a contradiction - the guitar playing football star. All the younger girls loved him, but since he was 14, he’d only had eyes for a certain raven haired girl.  Veronica Lodge had come from New York City money; if her father was a mobster or just into real estate had yet to be determined. Somehow, the big city princess had fallen for the small town boy. And not just in the summer love sense of the word. They were already planning on colleges together in Chicago, a shared apartment paid for by Daddy Lodge. Archie squeezed her arm as he bypassed her, heading straight for the boy who was still standing on the sand. 

 

“I can’t believe this is it.” His voice boomed out into the quiet of the air, the four friends standing watching the waves crash into the sand. 

 

“I refuse to spend my entire summer commenting on how - this is it. This  _ is  _ it, friends. We all know that. We can stop repeating it.” 

 

Their small group on the sand had been joined by the only person who wore heels and a skirt in the woods, at least for the first day. Cheryl Blossom had been born into maple syrup money, and spent most of the summer complaining about how the sand was bad for her pedicures and the bunk beds caused her to need a massage. The only thing Cheryl Blossom didn’t complain about, came in the form of the tiny pink haired Toni Topaz, who preferred fishnets and flannels. They spent every summer fighting their feelings for one another, but maybe with the finality that this summer was bringing, they would finally face each other. 

 

The two boys pulled up next, racing down the gravel road on their motorcycles, dust flying up behind them. They were the only two that knew each other outside of Lake Meade, in what they often referred to as “the real world”. The juvenile delinquent and the theatre nerd. Given, Sweet Pea’s involvement in the elementary school fire was questionable, but it had still landed him a stint in juvie. Fangs led the arts and crafts group, molding young minds in the ways of friendship bracelets. 

 

Kevin arrived last, pulling up in his black sedan. Outside of the boy on the motorcycle, he was the one she talked to the most over the regular year. Their friendship had been built on mutual childhood crushes on Archie, that had morphed into something resembling almost a brother/sister relationship. This last year, when things had fallen apart between her parents, she’d made the hour drive to stay a long weekend with him - just to get away and have a friend who knew what it was like to come from a broken home. 

 

Not that  _ he _ didn’t come from a broken home. But  _ he _ was different, and further away. She felt him move closer into her side, his fingers tangling with hers as the group watched the waves roll into the sand. They were unspoken, the way they moved together so easily. Their regular lives weren’t spent together - they’d tried that, her mother had been firm in her dislike for the boy in leather on a motorcycle. 

 

Those short few months seemed so far away, but they’d only came just the past fall. An attempt to make the summer feelings last through the rest of the year, to see if there was something more to the way they felt without the sand and the water. He’d driven two hours to watch her at a football game. She’d been so nervous that whole week, wondering what her friends would think of him, what her parents would say. The boy in the black leather clashed with the perfect cheerleader in her blue and gold uniform, but when she linked her hand in his and stretched on her toes to kiss his lips, she didn’t have a care in the world. Until she looked into the stands and saw the look on her mother’s face. The post-game bonfire hadn’t gone any differently. These boys that she had grown up with, that she’d known since they were all in diapers, showed her a different side of them that night. The snide comments from the other River Vixens was one thing, but his breaking point had came when he found Reggie and Chuck taking pictures sitting on his bike. In the end, they’d decided they came from two different worlds- but the summer. The summers would always belong to them. 

 

* * *

 

 

The week without campers was almost as exhausting as once the campers arrived. Early morning trainings, on cultural sensitivity and bonding exercises, followed by learning games and arts and crafts. Then the cabins needed to be cleaned and readied, fresh bed linens on all of the beds. The camp was run like a well oiled machine - the same kitchen staff and ground maintenance came back every year, so their sole focus was on the campers. 

 

Each night, when she found her way outside to the clearing, her body ached with exhaustion from the day. But she still found him, wrapping his arms around her as they lay on the blanket under the stars. Once the campers came, they would have 2 hours every night of “counselor meetings”, but this time now wasn’t mandatory - it was just simple. 

 

_ She couldn’t believe this was the end. _

 

* * *

  
  
  


The Sunday the campers arrived always started early, at 5 AM. Showered, she slathered on a small bit of makeup, knowing the sun would melt it away in a few hours, but it was always best to make a good first impression. This year’s camp t-shirt was red -  _ Summer Games at Lake Meade _ . 

 

Campers lined the outside of the registration building, flowing out into the parking lot. She watched as old friends greeted one another, as new parents cautiously brought their child up to the check in desk. She carried luggage up and down the wooden steps to the cabins, just over a mile one way. Her body ached, but she tried to relish in the pain. 

 

She watched her small group as they interacted with the new campers and each other. The way Fangs bumped into Kevin’s shoulder, the way Archie refused to let Veronica carry a bag. They all moved so fluently together, like there was never months that they went without seeing one another, without talking. 

 

_ She couldn’t believe this was the end.  _

 

 

* * *

 

  
  
  


The first week always was the hardest. The campers were adjusting to being away from home and the counselors were adjusting to a new group of campers. By the second week; one camper had gotten stung by a bee and had to be administered epinephrine, one camper had sprained her ankle running (not walking) through the trails, and one camper had gotten her period for the first time. All in Cabin 2. 

 

By the end of July, everyone seemed to have gotten used to the routine. Every morning, the bell chimed at 7AM. Breakfast started at 8, so if you wanted to shower you had better hurry. Arts and crafts came before lunch, followed by a few hours at the beach and games, then dinner, than music by the bonfire. Sometimes, they would hike out to the teepees in the woods and camp overnight, sometimes it rained and they spent all day huddled in the mess hall playing Euchre or watching movies on the old projector. 

 

Her greatest hope was that the campers couldn’t sense the tension between the two of them - that when he curled his arm around her waist when he grabbed her during a game of flag football, they didn’t see the goosebumps that she got despite the heat. Or when he grabbed her hand as they jumped off the dock, that  it wasn’t just a friendly gesture - his fingers intertwined with hers. 

 

But the nights. The nights, after the campers had been tucked away into their bunks, they snuck out for nightly “counselors meetings.” In the clearing under the stars, or playing capture the flag in the woods, they were always together. Stealing kisses when they thought they were alone, stealing moments while they still had moments to steal. 

 

_ She couldn’t believe this was the end. _

 

* * *

 

  
  
  


When you’re avoiding something, it seems to only come at you all that much faster.  _ Two months. _ Two months was all they had had, and it had gone by in the blink of an eye. On the last night, they had all seemed to go their separate ways. There, in the clearing, on a blanket under the stars, she had given him all that she had, in one last desperate want to hold on to this, to hold on to everything. 

 

They had met here in the clearing, that first summer, over a game of tetherball. They had built a friendship that developed into something more over the summers. To her mother, he was an act of rebellion - the leather clad boy from a motorcycle club. But to her, he was her safety - her sanctuary. He kept her grounded during the year, just knowing that he thought she was strong enough to face her demons. Just knowing he believed in her was often all she needed to push through the perfection. 

 

_ She couldn’t believe this was the end.  _

 

She knew the days and weeks and months that would follow would be hard, trying to readjust to life back at home, starting college and starting over. Everything was changing, and she just wanted to cling to this place, to this boy, for a sense of normalcy. 

 

_ She couldn’t believe this was the end. _

 

There would be no more after this. No more decorating the boys cabins in toilet paper, no more water balloon fights. There would be no more talent shows, no more perfectly choreographed dance numbers, no more pies in faces. There would be no more bonfires, no more friendship bracelets. There would be no more streaking contests, and no more cheerleading stunts. There would be no more summers together. 

 

They had been trapped away in their own little world, watching the sun come up over the water before sneaking away back to the cabins. This place, this little hole in the woods, would always be theirs. All of theirs. Their little slice of heaven, that had brought them all together in this unspoken bond of friendship that said - whenever you need me, I’ll be there. 

 

_ She couldn’t believe this was the end. _

 

* * *

  
  


They carried the campers bags from the cabin back up to the registration desk, making the mile long trek one last time. Watching as the last camper pulled out of the gravel parking lot, her hand twisted with his. 

 

_ She couldn’t believe this was the end. _

 

The small group turned to each other, unspokenly making their way back down the wooden steps, across the front lawn, past the flagpole, out to the sandy beach. She slipped off her shoes, feeling the sand between her toes -  _ one more time. _

 

_ She couldn’t believe this was the end. _

 

She felt tears well in her eyes as she watched the waves crash into the sand, remembering all of the moments she had had in this very spot. At this very place. Summers spent building friendships, finding herself, falling in love. This place was as much a part of her as she was it, and she gripped the hand that held hers tighter, not wanting to face it.

 

_ She couldn’t believe this was the end. _

 

Not wanting to face the final goodbyes, the final “see you laters”. This had been it, their last summer together before college and the real world hit them. Their last summer that they would all ever be in the same place together again. In the years to come, their lives would take them to Chicago and Nashville and London and Japan, but this moment, right here. This moment was it. 

 

He tugged gently on her hand, pulling her towards the water before scooping her up over his shoulder. Despite her tears, she laughed and squealed, her feet kicking into his back. The others followed suit, letting the cold waves crash over them as they splashed  _ once more _ in the water that had made them. 

 

Their friendships - their loves - had been forged in the water and sand and woods of this place. This place that had always been theirs, until it wasn’t anymore. 

 

In the years to come, the cabins would show wear from lack of upkeep. The trails would become overgrown, blending into the woods. But this place would always live on, even if only in their memories. 

 

They filed out in a line, Archie being the last car out. They all got out, one last moment together in this place, as he swung the metal gate shut, locking it with the key. 

 

_ This was really the end. _

 

“Should we stop for pizza?” 

  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
